Do our food shopping bills seem reasonable?

Sunnyday

Free range / or organic where the animal is happy and can live a better life rather than forced into a cage etc.
HTH
SD

betterlife

hi to me this seem alot, we spend about the same as you a month on food £300 and thats for me, oh, and 4 children and that includes 2 cats and 2 kittens.

Iguana

£200.00 per month which is two of us and includes two elderly cats (they have Hills science Plan Senior).

My OH does the majority of shopping and cooking and I keep telling him this is too much; whe my three children were at home my maximum budget was £40.00 per week for food for all (including various cats). I admit I am going back some years as my oldest is 27 and youngest two are 24, but i literally used to make everything from scratch (use chicken bomes for stock and make shortcrust pastry, even make yogurt which is not done now). i have a real objection to buying ready made food/instant meals but Oh who is at at home cannot make some things (like pastry) and I am at work full time.

RustyFlange

There are 4 of us, me, OH, my son (5) and my daughter (14 months)

OH has a box of salad (sometimes cheese, salami, ham, fresh fish) and a box of fruit daily these are the most expensive things weekly. I go through 12-14 pints of milk a week as my youngest has 2 bottles a day of cows milk.

Shopping costs me a max of £27 a week but then every 3-4 weeks I spend an extra £7 on a tray of 24 tins of cat food.

CoD_2

Sunnyday wrote: »

Free range / or organic where the animal is happy and can live a better life rather than forced into a cage etc.
HTH
SD

yep exactly this. thank you

CoD_2

Burp wrote: »

Don't shoot me - but for the life of me I have no idea how to cook a whole chicken! lol I only ever buy chicken breasts!

Nor have I ever carved a chicken! lol

oh deary me

it's much cheaper to tackle a whole chicken. unwrap, don't wash, pop in dish in oven surrounded by chopped up veg, carrots, onions, sweet potato, potatoes, garlic etc etc drizzle with some olive oil, sometimes i sprinkle paprika on the skin, or stuff a lemon inside, or put bacon on top, or add stuffing, cook at 180 until the juices from the thigh run clear (stick a knife in it)

value chicken fillets 7.43 a kg.
free range chicken fillets 13.49 a kg
organic chicken fillets 14.49 a kg

value whole chicken 2.15 a kg
free range whole chicken 4.08 a kg
organic whole chicken 5.99 a kg

so about 1/3 the price, even cheaper to buy a whole organic chicken versus the same weight in value chicken fillets.

to carve pull off the wings and legs, then just slice off the breast meat, once it's cooler pull the entire thing apart with your hands/ couple of knives remember to turn the chicken over as there is meat to be found there too.

kindlesgirl

Love all these ideas - but still finding menus difficult as my children are very fussy - tried most things - DS can't eat most cheese - a little mozzerella on home made pizza is ok. Neither like lentils and beans, don't like stews and "messed up" food so find it difficult to give them protein in cheap ways.
Can't understand why they are so fussy when I gave them loads of flavours etc from an early age and have always prepared food. Find it very frustrating when they won't eat what's prepared and I end uo eating too much or leftovers for ever! Still needs must and I've got to the stage where I refuse pudding if they don't clear plates but some days have to give in for my own sanity! (single mum so don't get time off for good behaviour!!) Hav ehad several nsd this week as ds was on camp - so will tot up bills and post totals tomorrow when I've restocked.
Thanks for all the support in these posts!

EssexHebridean

LOL - I was never allowed to be fussy - it was on the table, I either ate it or went hungry!! Didn't do me any harm long term though - I'll happily eat almost anything now!

Francesanne

Burp wrote: »

Don't shoot me - but for the life of me I have no idea how to cook a whole chicken! lol I only ever buy chicken breasts!

Nor have I ever carved a chicken! lol

oh deary me

What a sheltered life you've had! it's so EASY and it's much cheaper than chicken breasts. Be daring and have a go. Good luck & go easy with the carving knife.

almar_2

If shopping on line at Tesco's dont forget to search the forum for (Tesco voucher codes) for your money off. I save between £10 - £13 every shop with these.

I have started shopping every two weeks, bulk buy & buy bogofs and save on weekly delivery charges.

Ive also got a clubcard plus card to get double clubcard points & a free holiday via Tesco Deals.

I have started breadmaking, baking and freezing home made meals. I definately recommend the Grocery challenge Ive cut my first months bill by £200 with help from the money saving old style threads.

For cleaning buy micro fibre cloths, you only need to wet them & squeeze them out and then they clean almost anything without the need for additional cleaning products. Dont use fabric conditioner when washing them though or they wont work as well. These are inexpensive and are also great for windows and car cleaning.

HTH

almar